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Raleigh Mennonite Church

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Underlying Assumptions – Nov. 2, 2025

November 2, 2025

Ephesians 1:15-23 & 3:14-21

Susan asked us what kind of assumptions we have about God. Our picture of God shapes how we pray just like our assumptions about other people shape those conversations. We’re all afflicted with unconscious bias, which we know, but often don’t recognize.

The lectionary readings in Ephesians brings us to a great prayer. The prayer, which begins in chapter 1, is interrupted by the author’s enthusiastic theological reflections and picked up again in chapter 3. This is a prayer that is useful for any of us. And it’s useful for us as a congregation at a time of transition as we’re looking to see who God is going to bring us.

Even when you may not feel it, or feel like your prayers are being answered, know that God is utterly caught up in the details of our situation and cares for us more than we care for ourselves. You are precious to God, you are loved, and God is glad to hear from you.

A great help in surviving trying times is the knowledge, or even just the hope, that God is present to us and loves us. Knowing you are loved goes a long way in our ability to persevere.

Susan preaching at RMC on Nov. 2, 2025 in front of a colorful quilted banner.
Raleigh Mennonite Church
Underlying Assumptions - Nov. 2, 2025
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Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 12:37 | Recorded on November 2, 2025

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Tagged With: assumptions, bias, Ephesians, prayer, Susan Scott

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Raleigh, NC 27603

Phone: 919-831-2969

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The word “church” holds a spectrum of meaning, The word “church” holds a spectrum of meaning, depending on who you ask. For Raleigh Mennonite “church” means art tables in Sunday worship and an abundance of ice cream at fellowship meals. It also means gathering to clean a family’s home while a parent recovers from surgery, welcoming our unhoused neighbors overnight when temps dip below freezing, and painting reusable banners to hold as we stand for the dignity of others.
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